Independent (Movie Genre)

When Blythe Danner turned 70, her daughter threw her a surprise party. Gwyneth Paltrow even decorated a cake for her mother: The icing read, "A Streetcar Named Retired." "I said, 'Beg your pardon?'" Danner recalled. "She thought that was hilarious, and I said, 'Well, I'm going to show her!'" Just a couple of years later, Danner has surpassed even her own expectations for herself, starring in her first major feature film, "I'll See You in My Dreams," at the age of 72. Of course, it was perfectly reasonable for Paltrow to expect her mom to slow down as she became a septuagenarian. Danner has been a working actress...

Related "Independent (Movie Genre)" Articles

Charles Benton, the son of a U.S. senator, was a film distributor who lobbied for free speech and civil liberties."The flame of the public interest really burned in his breast," said former Federal Communications Commission Commissioner...

As the first breakthrough transgender star in Hollywood, Laverne Cox has certainly mixed it up with the A-list. The "Orange Is the New Black" actress recently attended the White House Correspondents' Dinner, where she rubbed shoulders with the...

How unquestionably cool would it be to have Chicago filmmaker Colleen Griffen as a mom?
Case in point: After she playfully noted her teenage son and his friends resembling a young, male musical group, Griffen then imagined, wrote and directed a 30-minute...

The best independent children's films from around the world, plus silent movie classics, a screening of films made by young filmmakers and a panel discussion about film storyline development are just part of the fifth annual Coastline Children's Film...

It's a rare chance to see new and award-winning independent films without traveling into the city.
The 8th Annual Geneva Film Festival opens March 12 and runs through March 14, offering a weekend full of indie flicks from around the globe.
"This...

Cinema fans will enjoy more than 30 independent movies from across the globe as part of the eighth annual Geneva Film Festival being held Thursday to Saturday, March 12 to 14.
The festival showcases feature-length and short documentaries, narrative...

In the Chicago-shot indie "Warren," filmmaker Alex Beh plays a barista by day, occasional improv performer by night. Put another way: He's a guy in his 20s struggling to get his act together.
That post-grad sinkhole of unfulfilled ambitions...

The Sundance Film Festival kicks off today in Park City, Utah, with a pair of films from Chicago directors who also happened to be married to one another.
Joe Swanberg ("Drinking Buddies") debuts his latest feature "Digging for Fire,"...

Just as Hollywood's awards season heats up, half the town takes off for a snowy getaway to Park City, Utah, for the Sundance Film Festival.
Celebrating its 31st year, the festival has steadily outgrown its indie-film roots to showcase emerging and...

With critical praise for the civil rights drama "Selma," Chris Rock's comedy "Top Five," and the social satire "Dear White People," it looks as if Hollywood has been on a roll this year producing movies showcasing black casts...

Israel's most well-known director is scheduled to be a guest of honor at this year's ninth annual Chicago Festival of Israeli Cinema.
Avi Nesher will screen old and new films, hold question-and-answer sessions and participate in in-depth discussions at...

Triton College Mass Communications faculty and longtime filmmaker and actor Seth McClellan will have his most recent film screened at the Gene Siskel Film Center of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago on Oct. 24, 26 and 30. His fictional feature...

It's taken a few years for the Chicago Comedy Film Festival to find its footing. Back for its fourth year this weekend, the lineup is noticeably stronger. As always, the focus is on small indie comedies. I got a look at three.
'The Yank'
(8 p.m. Friday)...

Pledging to "challenge the way people think about museums," the coming Lucas Museum of Narrative Art will feature "popular art from illustration to comics, an insider’s perspective on the cinematic creative process, and the boundless...

The world of moneyed Northern California liberals — a specific genus of the 1 percent all its own — is satirized from within in the seriocomic indie "Last Weekend" (at the Siskel Film Center through Oct. 9).
It is Labor Day weekend and as the...

Heaven is Hell, an award-winning new indie film, is now available streaming free for a limited time on Youtube!
The film is the creation of Chicago production company Yokai Films, directed by Mike Meyer and Chris Sato and stars local Chicago talent...

We're heading into Oscar-bait season for Hollywood, when the biggest movies tend to suck up all the oxygen. Just as worthy are the offerings from the local art house scene, which reliably features smaller films — indie features, classic films and...

There are some films that even an avid movie-goer will never get the chance to watch, unless you go to a film festival.
Naperville, you're in luck.
The seventh annual Naperville Independent Film Festival runs Saturday, Sept. 13 to Saturday, Sept. 20,...

If you had to guess which movie director was recently the first to be granted access to the nonpublic areas of the catacombs six stories beneath the streets of Paris, you might say, Luc Besson, Leos Carax or another of France's most prominent names.
Mais...